THE STORY of one of the greatest engineering projects in the North-West between the two world wars is told in a new book.

In the 1920s, to solve Rochdale's desperate shortage of drinking water, the council decided to build a reservoir by flooding the valley north of Wardle where the village of Watergrove had existed for nearly 700 years.

Work started amid great pomp and ceremony in 1930 and 500 men were employed on the project until it was completed in 1938.

Milnrow author Allen Holt, who penned Watergrove: A History of the Valley and its Drowned Village said: "Watergrove was one of the biggest reservoir projects in the North of England at the time and is still Rochdale's largest reservoir.

"I had a lot of help in researching the book from people sending pictures and information. There was one old lady who gave me some marvellous stuff about the old village church.

"The local Wardle history group provided photographs of the reservoir construction from a collection by the late Ken Simpson, who worked near Watergrove."

Historian John Cole, who works for Rochdale Council, wrote the introduction, in which he said: "I'm very impressed with Allen's efforts in producing this book. Drowned villages are a very evocative subject and Allen has brought Watergrove back to life."

The book tells the history of Watergrove dating back to the 13th century.

By the first half of the 19th century it was a thriving community. Its coal was in great demand as the industrial revolution gathered pace, but it was cotton that really brought people to the village.

The Watergrove United Free Methodist Church was built in 1852 and its baptismal register showed 616 births between 1854 and 1933. But by the depression in the 1920s the population had dropped to below 200.

Meanwhile, Rochdale's drinking water situation was becoming precarious. In 1920 the town was buying 300,000 gallons of water a day from Bacup and during the 1934 drought Rochdale was buying more than one million gallons a day from Oldham. Parliament approved Rochdale Council's application to build a reservoir at Watergrove and work began in June 1930.

Some villagers resented the decision and one wrote in Lancashire dialect to the chief engineer at Watergrove saying people should use less water.

There is some evidence King Edward VIII was to be invited to the open the reservoir, but because of his abdication the job fell to Waterworks Committee chairman Alderman Thomas Elvyn Kershaw, who opened the filterhouse door with a gold key and turned a valve to start water running.

At its most productive Watergrove provided almost half of Rochdale's drinking water.

In the mid-1980s work began to protect the valley's wildlife and natural beauty and more than 100,000 trees and bushes have been planted by many different groups. TV presenter David Bellamy visited the site to plant the one-millionth tree in national British Trust for Conservation Volunteers' (BTCV) scheme.

Today Watergrove is a popular destination for watersports, horse riding, orienteering and walking and family day trips.

The book contains many fascinating pictures of village life and the construction work. There is also a lot of information about Watergrove's archaeological importance.

Littleborough bookshop owners George and Ben Kelsall published the book, and Christopher Lord designed the cover.